The normal propulsion of a wheelchair is accomplished by pushing a hand rail attached to the main wheels, or using a hand lever device or using an electric motor. The steering of the wheelchair is accomplished either by a steering mechanism, or by individually braking the motion of the two main wheels by hand and in such sequence as to change the direction of the wheelchair. Such wheelchairs are disclosed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,691 to Queen's University, Kingston, issued Oct. 19, 1982, U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,181, issued Dec. 24, 1985 to Design Loft Inc., U.S. Pat. No. 3,189,368 to James F. Peterson, issued June 15, 1965, U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,509, issued Jan. 28, 1986 to Jerome E. Schaeffer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,729, issued June 12, 1984 to Wesley O. Lacken and Canadian Pat. No. 1,202,554, issued Apr. 1, 1986 to Akira Korosue and Canadian Pat. No. 1,026,662 issued Feb. 21, 1978 to Permobilstiftelsen.
All previously known devices used to propel a wheelchair with handle bars are very cumbersome, complicated, very heavy and require that the wheelchair has to undergo extensive and expensive alterations and changes to accommodate such devices or a completely new and special wheelchair has to be designed and manufactured at exorbitant cost in order to utilize the use of a hand lever propulsion system. The use of a hand lever propulsion system is very desirable as it provides a substantial power to propel the wheelchair, eliminates the tremendous stress and jolting of the arms and especially the shoulders and shoulder joints of the wheelchair user. This is a very severe problem, as documented by the discomfort and inflammation of the shoulder joints experienced by Rick Hanson on his world tour. Many patients confined to a wheelchair do not have the physical strength to propel the wheelchair by pushing the hand rail ring by hand and must rely on the assistance of a person pushing their wheelchair. Electrically propelled wheelchairs which could solve some of the problems, are exorbitantly expensive, heavy, require constant service and are difficult to transport.